DGAP’s Center for Climate and Foreign Policy assesses the societal and geoeconomic impacts of climate change. The interdisciplinary team builds on scientific findings to develop policy recommendations for a coherent German foreign policy at the interface of climate security and human security.
Main Topics:
- Relevance of climate change for German security policy
- Coherence in response to the climate crisis given the interrelationship between the domestic and foreign policy dimensions of climate policy
- Consequences of climate migration and displacement worldwide
- Geoeconomic dimensions of the climate crisis: German climate and energy policy and international climate diplomacy
- Role of civilian crisis prevention in hindering the escalation of resource conflicts
- International legal dimensions of the climate crisis
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At the Center for Climate and Foreign Policy, experts examine the security, societal, and geoeconomic dimensions of climate change. Drawing on scientific findings, the interdisciplinary team develops policy recommendations for a coherent German foreign policy at the intersection of climate and human security.
Our action- and practice-oriented research focuses on:
Droughts, storms, floods – climate impacts are manifesting worldwide and pose major challenges to civil society, politics, and the economy. A key focus of our research is the connections between climate impacts and security risks. Climate change affects various aspects of human security, such as the destruction of natural livelihoods and traditional identities. Although many developing countries are particularly affected, they have contributed the least to the causes of climate change, namely greenhouse gas emissions.
People whose livelihoods are directly tied to healthy ecosystems (such as through fishing or agriculture) may face existential threats due to climate change. One consequence of this is climate migration. Research into these interconnections and potential humanitarian crises, as well as the associated issues of international law, is one of the center’s cross-cutting themes.
In addition, our research team examines the geoeconomic dimensions of climate change. As one of the world’s largest economies and Europe’s largest CO2 emitter, Germany bears a special responsibility in international climate policy, but also has significant room for maneuver. Against this backdrop, the center addresses the foreign policy challenges of German climate and energy policy as well as climate diplomacy. In light of the implementation of the European Green Deal, the geopolitics of resource flows for transformative technologies are also playing an increasingly significant role.
In its work, the center pursues an interdisciplinary research approach: Scholars with backgrounds in the natural sciences, political science, and law develop recommendations for German foreign policy that are as holistic as possible and address the climate crisis as a cross-disciplinary field of research. Additionally, the center leverages synergies with other program areas to collectively strengthen DGAP’s research on global climate policy issues.
Experts
Publications
Klimamigration unter Budgetdruck
The price of silence
European Energy Security or Acquiescence?
Media Center
Auf dem Weg zu einem resilienten Deutschland
Belém and Beyond: COP30 and the Future of Global Climate Action
In the media
Events
Past events
Financing the Green Transition
The Role of the Ocean in Foreign Policy – From Security to Sustainability
The Climate Double-Crunch? Implications for Development and Security in India
Announcements
Projects
Glossary
Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Uses (AFOLU)
“Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Uses” (AFOLU) is a collective term that refers to human use of and influence on land areas.
Business-As-Usual Scenario
The Business-As-Usual (BAU) scenario describes the development of the concentration of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere under the assumption that no further efforts to reduce emissions will be made. It is used in climate models to examine inaction in the areas of climate politics, social behavior, and technological progress and the consequences this inaction will have for climate impacts that will affect societies and natural systems in the future.
Climate Foreign Policy
Climate foreign policy encompasses the issue areas of climate protection, adaptation, prevention, and management of climate-related crises, in which national interests converge or conflict with those of other countries.
Climate Justice
Climate Justice is a normative concept that considers man-made climate change as an ethical and social problem. It consists of two main aspects: justice in terms of responsibility for climate change and justice in terms of the impacts of climate change. Populations in poor countries are disproportionately affected by climate impacts.
Climate Migration
Climate migration or climate-induced migration describes the permanent or temporary change of location of an individual or group of people due to environmental changes caused by global warming.
Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR)
The principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) establishes the common governmental responsibility for anthropogenic climate change and the environmental destruction associated with it. It acknowledges that responsibility among countries is unequally distributed due to their differing contributions to the causes of climate change and their varying economic capacities.
Ecocide
In international criminal law as well as in European and national criminal law, the term “ecocide” refers to criminal liability for massive damage to or the destruction of ecosystems by human actions.
Energy Security
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), “energy security” is defined as the “uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an affordable price.”
Green Industrial Policy
Industrial policy becomes green when decarbonized economic activity and respect for other planetary boundaries become government objectives that are as important as social welfare. Green industrial policy is now at the top of the political agenda in many countries because it is essential for addressing those socio-environmental challenges that markets do not usually solve alone.
Hope
Amid multiple crises and slow progress on climate protection, hope is elusive. Yet hope is a key ingredient in climate foreign policy.
Intergenerational Justice
The concept of Intergenerational Justice is characterized by the question of what kind of world those living today will leave to their children and grandchildren. According to this concept, it is essential that different generations have an equal level of opportunity and quality of life, and that material resources are distributed equitably across them.
Just Energy Transition Partnerships
Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) are a new plurilateral structure for accelerating the phase-out of fossil fuels. These intergovernmental partnerships coordinate financial resources and technical assistance from countries in the Global North to a recipient country to help it in this regard. To date, JETPs have targeted emerging economies that produce and consume coal on a large scale.